Telos
by Nosferatank
Summary: Narumi thought surviving after the battle would be simple in theory, even if not in practice. He was wrong.
1. Chapter 1

_Run_

 _Keep running_

 _Don't look back, you'll never move again_

Footsteps pounding across cracked pavement, some light and nimble, some heavy and uneven ( _who's limping, who's injured, no, keep moving_ ), Narumi sets the steady (retreating) pace, leaving no time to grieve ( _no, can't or we won't be able to get moving again_ ), for his own comrades, for the JIDA that was turning itself inside-out in some insane prophetically-driven divine maneuver.

He sets himself on a likely safe distance from the chaos, and keeps running.

* * *

It seems like they have been running for hours, though Narumi knows it hasn't really been that long yet. (It feels like this day will never end, just one tragedy after another, first Guren and then – _no, don't think about it_ ).

They're in the city now, there are dilapidated buildings everywhere, and it's growing dark. By unspoken agreement, they are searching for shelter; somewhere, anywhere to spend the night, collect themselves, heal. Most of these buildings are far too gone into disrepair to be of any use: leaning half over, many with sizeable chunks missing: trees and weeds and vines growing around them, choking.

They see it finally: a long-abandoned condo complex, with the top floors high enough to deter even the wildest Apostles of John and out of the scenting range of any vampires (if there are any left after the slaughter, they fell just as easily as his human comrades _no stop grieve later_ ). It looked structurally sound enough, and at least is still in one piece. Narumi is relieved to stop but all the same (childishly) wishes he could keep going, keep pretending everyone was fine.

 _Everything was not fine._

Shinoa seemed okay even after hauling Yuu's body, likely thanks to whatever training from hell the Hiragis subjected their progeny to. Yuu himself looked… better than Narumi expected, after the shadow-bendingly _wrong_ thing that possessed him, though the horns still jutted from Yuu's crown of blood-matted hair. (A shiver ran down Narumi's spine. _That can't possibly be good_ ). Narumi's eyes flitted to Kimizuki, who was favoring his right leg: that was the uneven beat he heard when they were fleeing. Narumi moves on to Yoichi-

And catches sight of bloodstained white and it's not looking Narumi's way, he can strike and end this before it goes after the squad's two incapacitated members but Shinoa's tired voice says "Narumi, don't. He's an ally, he helped us escape.".

The vampire isn't moving, but Narumi still keeps a cautious eye on it (damn, it looks like just a kid, but you can never tell with bloodsuckers; it could be centuries old) while he rounds off to Shinoa and snaps an "Excuse me?"

"Well, he's the reason Yuu's still around to drag across the city, so at the very least I think you can give him the common courtesy of not killing him on sight." Shinoa shifted back, signaling to Narumi that the repercussions of this morass would be solidly in his court should his executive decision go over poorly with the young remains of the Company.

Narumi looks at the kid (vampire) again. It actually appears hesitant, tired, and ready to run, but not aggressive.

"Fine." Narumi sighs, and, metaphorically giving his years of training a nebulous middle finger, puts his weapon away.

"So long as he pulls his own weight. And he is not under any circumstances to be left alone, is that clear?"

Shinoa responds with a droopy salute and a languid "Sir, yes sir," and Narumi moves to more important matters.

"Alright, we'll be taking the top floor rooms as a temporary base. Kimizuki, you keep an eye on Yuu, let us know when _(if)_ he wakes up. Try to make the rooms as livable as possible. Mitsuba, help them get up there, try to find any usable mattresses if you can. Saotome, Shinoa, you two can take the bottom floors to look for medical supplies and anything edible. Myself and… uh…" He paused

"What's your name?"

"Mikaela," The vampire answered, with a slight accent. (Russian, maybe?)

"Right. Myself and _Mikaela_ will take the upper floors for scavenging." Narumi did have an ulterior motive, of course: should the vampire be deceiving them, he could fend it off at least long enough for the kids downstairs to move out. Rolling his shoulders back to purposely draw attention to his trident, Narumi jerked his head for the vampire kid to follow and, surprisingly, he does.

* * *

The foraging is… surprisingly uneventful. Narumi refuses to rummage around with his back exposed to a vampire, and the Mikaela is just as jittery with Narumi behind him, constantly glancing behind him and making strange throaty clicking noises every time Narumi moves too fast. They had awkwardly settled into a side-by-side formation, keeping each other out of arm's reach. Mikaela sacrificed his cape for the greater good of keeping their arms free by bunching it into a makeshift knapsack.

They returned to the blessed sounds of bickering teenagers: Kimizuki was digging into Shinoa because "You're supposed to take the soup out of the can _before_ cooking it, are you trying to give the walls a new tomato soup-colored paint job?"

In an attempt to lighten the mood (God knows they can't afford to wallow in their own failures), Narumi deposits their bundle, grandly announcing "We come bearing gifts!", foisting the responsibility of cooking onto the younger members. Mikaela, who had been hovering awkwardly in the doorway, turns and absconds to the room containing Yoichi and an unconscious Yuu without delay, prompting Narumi's tense shoulders to relax from their iron-braided battle-readiness.

"Has Mitsuba returned yet?" he postures, and is answered when, like an vengeful demon barely reeled in by a novice cadet's first summoning, the door bursts open and she scolds, "If any of you want to sleep on a mattress tonight you'd _better_ help me haul this stuff in!"

Admittedly enticed by the thought of _not_ sleeping on the floor, Narumi is the first to move past Mitsuba and start shoving her makeshift mattress-sled, stacked with blankets and pillows, into the squad's sanctuary. Mitsuba, concluding that her work here was done, headed over to the food cans before being cut off by Kimizuki, and, with much grumbling, rejoined Narumi and Shinoa in arranging the beds.

"Alright" Narumi sighed, "there's not enough space for everyone to have their own, so I'm afraid we'll have to share."

He doesn't even get in a _"please be mature about it"_ before a lavender eyebrow starts waggling in Mitsuba's direction, provoking offended sputtering from her faintly-pink face. Resigning himself to being the only adult in a pack of war-blooded children, Narumi says "Go ahead and eat, I'm going to find the bathrooms. I'll be back in time for first watch, and I expect all of you to be asleep by the time I'm here, got it?" He doesn't expect the silence of agreement at an enforced sleep, but he sees the dark circles under eyes, the bloodstains, the salt and ashes dusting the feet of child soldiers. He understands, more than he wished he could, and makes his retreat to the latrines. There, he can finally allows himself to grieve.

( _imsorrysimsorryimsososososorrypleaseforgivemewhydidthishappenishouldhavestoppeditishouldhaveseenitcomingican'tdoitplease_ )

* * *

Feeling empty and cold, Narumi returned to their abode, hoping his eyes aren't red from crying anymore. (He was careful to wash away the tear tracks, but…) Passing by the (thankfully still intact) kitchenette, he opened the single bedroom door. Inside there was Yuu, lying on the only standing bed, clumsily cuffed to the bedpost (it's still not safe, but at least the horns are starting to recede). Mikaela was nothing more than a tuft of pale blond hair peeking out from inside the cocoon of a faint green, ratty blanket, curled up at the foot of Yuu's sickbed. _Like a cat_ , Narumi mused. The rest of the kids had crammed the mattresses into one singular bed, and what might have been an orderly row of sleepers had devolved into layers of exhaustion, too deep in the recovery of sleep to notice small things like a head pressed into their stomach or a hand grabbing their foot. At least it looked like they had scrounged up clean clothes; Mikaela had too, judging by the bloodstained white among the salt-encrusted black pile of dirty clothes.

Leaving the door cracked open, Narumi unslung his trident and sat down, reminding himself that in exchange for his sore rear in the next two hours, he would have the pleasure of rousing someone to take his place so that he, too, could forget the chaos for a few blessed hours.

Notes: And the featured headcanons this chapter are: 1.) the clicking sounds Mika is making are derived from the sounds some species of lizards make: the gist being either "please stay away" of "identify yourself" 2.) A Russian-born vampire in Sangiunem, appalled by Mika's lack of knowledge of his heritage, insisted (read: petitioned the queen to teach him until she acquiesced just so he'd leave her alone) that he learn Russian


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: sweet mother mary this is so late i'm so sorry. good news is that at this time all of it is finished, so update times will be about once a week.**  
 **Read the author's notes at the end of each chapter for vampire biology headcanons ( i did promise y'all that, didn't i?)**

Narumi groaned silently as sunlight streamed through his closed eyelids, waking him from some of the least satisfying sleep he'd had in years. He really would rather try to keep sleeping as opposed to dealing with their current situation, no matter how petty it sounded. However, simple things like survival and the hope for coffee motivated him to get up.

Narumi rolled unceremoniously off the lumpy couch, hitting the ground with a heavy thud and wedging his trident between him and his bed, opening his eyes to drowsy burgundy eyes belonging to a vampire (still) wrapped in a ridiculous mint green blanket.

Wait.

Dazedly scrambling for his weapon, Narumi startled Mikaela into wakefulness (was he sleeping with his eyes open what the hell) while the vampire 'skreee'd in roused shock and scaled the wall like an overgrown bat, keeping the tatty blanket a protective barrier between himself and the sun all the while.

"… Good morning." Narumi managed to say as Mikaela somewhat sheepishly detached himself from the wall, leaving little punctures in the drywall. The vampire glanced at him, nodded the barest amount, and retreated to the room where Yuu and the rest of the kids were still sleeping, moving so silently Narumi swore he was made of a breeze.

Dismissing the vampire for the oddity he was, Narumi groaned incoherently as he stood up and shuffled towards the sink. He was dismayed to realize there was no working electricity for the coffeemaker, but appeased by the presence of coffee in general. Narumi turned the faucet hesitantly and was relieved to see it eek out some water of questionable sanitation, but at this time he could care less.

After filling the coffeepot with grounds and water, Narumi ripped up one of the disgustingly lumpy pillows he had used last night and set it on fire in the sink, using Genbushin as a grate to hold up the coffeepot over the fire.

He was sure Genbushin didn't mind too terribly.

After greedily sucking down some of the nastiest coffee he ever had the displeasure to drink, Narumi opted, in a rare mood of productivity, to remove the bloody and salted clothes to find a place to wash them.

The (ex-) sergeant opened the door and instinctively started at the sight of Mikaela, perched, quite literally, like a vulture on Yuu's bed frame. Though rather unintimidating in a turtleneck and jeans, the faint red glow of his eyes and the uneven fang poking from his lip demanded otherwise.

Feeling both self-conscious and on edge with the boy watching him like that, Narumi gathered as many of the soiled clothes as he could and exited the room full of (mostly) sleeping teenagers, nearly tripping on a stray pant leg on his way out. After checking the bathroom to see that yes, the water did in fact work, Narumi dumped the uniforms into the tub and turned the water back off.

Now to see if the apartment complex had a laundry room with detergent in it.

Narumi tromped down the stairs to the ground floor, happy to find the laundry room and subsequently raid it of cleaning supplies. He'd probably make the kids wash their own clothes, he decided. He'd already done enough in that department.

Narumi was moving back up the stairs, arms laden, when he heard a thud, crumble, and a bellow from above him.

An Apostle.

The kids were still asleep, completely caught by surprise.

Dropping his prizes, Narumi took the steps two at a time, racing to their claimed room. Slamming the door open, he nearly bowled into Kimizuki as the boy grappled for where he stashed Kiseki-O. Narumi blew past him towards the bedroom, yanking his trident off the smoldering pillow fire in the sink as he went. he entered to see the Horseman tearing a sizable hole in the window, glass all but gone as it pried bricks from the wall.

Narumi was nearly run over again by Mitsuba heading out the door, and he caught sight of Yoichi and Shinoa unshackling Yuu and hauling him back away from the monster. As the Apostle reached in one gargantuan claw to grasp at the humans inside, Narumi saw a blur as Mikaela lunged between it and the retreating humans, ungloved hands showing claws that gripped the creature's white flesh.

He then proceeded to bury his fangs into it.

The Horseman hoarsely bellowed at the sensation, yanking its claw from the hole it had created. Swearing, Narumi leapt out of the window after it, leading with Genbushin and landing with the trident buried in whatever constituted as the monster's skull. As it fell, Narumi gripped his weapon's handle, watching as an almost comically-small looking vampire clung for dear life to the falling creature.

After the Apostle collapsed, Narumi slid out his trident with a rather disgusting squelching noise. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he paced over to see Mikaela nearby, detaching himself from the monster's arm. As the boy extricated his teeth from the limb, Narumi caught sight of a few drops of grayish fluid drip from the exposed fangs. This sent an instinctive shiver down his spine, as the Horsemen of John did not bleed. He remembered, unpleasantly, the sensation of the same kind of venomous creature Mikaela was biting into his neck. He felt almost sorry for the Horseman, now. Almost.

Cautiously, Narumi approached him, satisfied to see him get up in short order and walk towards him, but not before sending a glare towards the corpse resting nearby. Narumi squinted upwards, and saw Mitsuba's blonde head poking out from the hole in the wall, shouting "Hey! You alright down there?!"

Narumi slung his trident over his back and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Yeah! Still alive!"

"Meet us back up here!" Mitsuba hollered once more before vanishing back into the depths of the apartment.

Looking back to his pointy ally, Narumi was startled to see he was most certainly missing from where he left him. Quickly scanning the area, he saw Mikaela wedged beneath the short awning, carefully keeping his body out of the sun's rays.

On his way to the entrance to the apartment, Narumi gestured for the boy to follow.

"Sun-seared?" He asked, referring to the burns that slowly appeared on a vampire's uncovered skin should they stay out in it too long. It was worse the higher in the sky the sun was.

Mikaela managed to look mollified as he nodded. Come to think of it, Narumi hadn't heard the young vampire say a word since he joined up with them.

Shrugging it off, Narumi led the way back up the stairs to their apartment, not bothering to knock, instead just opening it without ceremony. He felt a bit bad for startling Yoichi, but he had bigger problems to deal with at the moment.

"I think." Narumi announced, gaze sweeping through all the members of there little group of deserters, including Mikaela, who had just stood by the couch where Yuu had been unceremoniously flung in the chaos. "That we should move elsewhere."

"Any suggestions?" He offered, before approaching the group as they formed a rough oval.

Kimizuki seemed to ponder deeply for a moment before saying "Perhaps west? it's wilder there, but the Horsemen stick to populated areas, so it should be safer there."

"It's not a bad idea." Shinoa added. "I know that the army is pretty uninterested in that place. It's mostly mountain and places that were abandoned even before the plague."

"Seems sound to me. Any objections?" Narumi asked.

"Ah…" Narumi heard, and he turned his face to the source of it. Damn, he even sounded like a kid.

Mikaela cleared his throat. "If it's not too much trouble, if we are to travel by daylight I'd like to wash my cloak."

Thinking of the white UV-reflecting clothing vampires wore, Narumi nodded. "Sure, Mikaela. Water's working in the bathtub, detergent is in the stairwell."

As the vampire exited to fetch the cleaning supplies, Narumi turned back to his squad.

"Right. Pack as many nonperishables as you can. Water, food. The coffee too, if you can help it.

They all nodded, except Yuu or course, and split to do their work. Narumi himself went to fold and stuff some blankets into a pillowcase; Lord knew it could get cold outdoors at night. In his efforts, he didn't even register Mikaela's re-entrance with battle-chorded muscles tensing, or indeed notice him at all.

 **—-**  
 **Author's note. Wow jeez this is even LATER than i thought. ah well. headcanons for this chapter are**

 **1: Vampires have claws, able to be unsheathed rather like a cat's. Generally they range from 2 to 2 1/2 inches long**  
 **2\. Though the warmth feels really good to them, they get burned at a slow pace when exposed to UV-rays. The white cloaks and clothing you see them wear in the manga are made specifically to reflect the UV**  
 **3\. The 'skree' sound mentioned here: think of a what a really angry barn owl sounds like.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note. its time… i finally get to mention the mika's snagglefangs…. praise the lord…..**

The squad set out as soon as they could that day, deciding that getting only a half-day of travel was better than sitting in their apparently vulnerable base in the city. Mikaela carried Yuu, as he had the inhuman strength and the rest were laden with their own lighter burdens of water, food, and a few blankets.

Shinoa spearheaded the group, while Narumi took up guarding the rear. The silence was pervasive, only punctuated by the rhythmic thumps of traveling people. Narumi was relieved to see the beginning of a suburb where they could spend the night- getting out of the city was the main priority.

Once the reached their goal, Narumi motioned for them to stop, and told them to try and find a reasonably-stable house to invade. He heard over the sounds of his own coughing from the dust the sound of Yoichi crying "Over here!", indicating he had found a passable place.

Narumi was the last to make it there, as everyone else had already made it to the location Yoichi had found. The house looked decrepit, abandoned in the years after the plague. Mitsuba opened the creaking door, and stared in dismay at the dust that had accumulated.

"Home sweet home." Kimizuki muttered under his breath.

The squad filed in, Shinoa wrinkling her nose at the wafts of dirt drifting about. Mikaela walked over and started lightly kicking the couch do dislodge the dust before setting Yuu on it. He then released a tremendous sneeze, sensitive nostrils displeased with the particulate matter invading them. (Narumi had no idea vampires even could sneeze).

"Well." Narumi began, noticing all eyes were all on him. "Kimizuki, you're on dinner duty. Shinoa, Mitsuba, try and make this place livable please. and Yoichi, Mikaela, I'll let you handle sleeping arrangements. I'm heading out to see if there's a way we can refill our water."

At that, everyone started at their tasks swiftly, even Kimizuki and Mikaela. Narumi gathered the squad's water bottles before heading out to complete his own job. As he parsed through every house to see if the water was still running, he marveled at the ease at which the younger members looked to him for instruction. This sent a sluggish feeling of unease oozing in his heart, as the last time he had people relying on him (his squad)-

Whipping his head around, Narumi insistently shoved that train of thought insistently to the back of his mind, opting to let it marinate until later. Cowardly, he realized. But regardless of his own personal feelings on it, the younger members did look to him, and despite his grievances he had to help them.

After finally finding a house with working faucets and filling the group's waters, Narumi headed back to the house his squad had claimed as the sky darkened above him. He entered to see that dinner - a set of canned soups - had been finished and the kids were already eating, drinking directly out of the cans. Narumi snatched his own and joined them, hungrily gulping the first third of it. He noticed it was a bit… awkward, so he tried to talk to somebody.

Might as well try and get to know one of the more unexpected deserters in their group.

"So, Mikaela. How, er. How old are you, anyways?"

Without really looking at him, the vampire answered "Fifteen."

"No, wait." Narumi corrected, doing his best not to fumble over his words. "Like, how old are you actually, not how old you were when you were turned."

Mikaela looked at him directly, this time. "That's what I said. I was eleven when i was turned, and fully turned just a few days ago."

"Oh." Narumi said, a bit dumbly. So he really was a kid, it seemed. Narumi felt a prick of regret for bringing it up, and returned to his soup. Somehow the silent air was even more awkward after that.

After eating, the group piled their empty cans in a corner and looked to the place they were to sleep. Seeing the two pillows and minimal number of blankets piled there, Narumi saw Shinoa give Yoichi a rather piteous look.

The archer replied by raising up his hands in surrender and saying "I'm so sorry, but it's the best we could do. We couldn't really pack that much, you see…"

Mitsuba shouldered her friend. "No, it's good, Yoichi."

She then looked to Shinoa, raising an eyebrow. "So, do you wanna sleep here, or outside?" She demanded.

"Oooh, so harsh, Mitsu." Shinoa said blandly, before setting herself down and claiming the fluffiest pillow for herself.

"Don't call me that!" Mistuba protested, but Narumi could tell it was weak. She collapsed next to Shinoa, yanking the pillow over and insisting that the other girl share. Kimizuki was next, taking an edge. Yoichi looked to Yuu, still on the couch.

"Won't he get to cold?" He asked, mindful of the completely disappeared horns.

Narumi responded by picking Yuu up and setting him beside Shinoa, tossing a blanket over him.

Narumi was about to suggest he stay up when Mikaela interjected himself. "I'll take first watch." he said, daring the others to suggest otherwise.

Narumi hesitated, but if anyone was going to catch a threat first, it would be the highly specialized species of predator. Nodding his assent, Narumi unslung is trident and set it to the side, laying down on the edge outside of Kimizuki and Yoichi. He thought it would be harder to fall asleep with a vampire in the room, but the steady breathing of tired humans lulled him to darkness.

It was still dark when Narumi woke. He supposed it would be about three or so in the morning.

Not bad, considering his track record with nightmares.

Narumi slid out of the nest, groaning lightly as he stretched his cramped limbs. He nearly leapt out of his skin when he spotted Mikaela, still awake, absentmindedly scratching at his ribs, watching the window from the back of the couch. Narumi went and stood beside him.

"Why didn't you wake any of us up?" he whispered.

Mikaela responded. "I wasn't really tired."

"You need to sleep too, you know."

At his silence, Narumi continued. "There's no way I'm getting back to sleep anytime soon, so I might as well take over."

Narumi saw the longing in his slit pupils and the tiredness gathered below his eyes as Mikaela observed his dear friend, and as Narumi sat down he carefully, lightly nudged the young vampire over.

"Go ahead. I don't think Yuu will mind particularly."

Mikaela hesitated, and Narumi wondered if he would end up staying awake with him when the boy rose up and silently stalked on the pads of his bare feet to the edge where Yuu slept, wrapping his pink-blotched white cloak around him and just barely touching Yuu's feet with his own.

When the faint red glow disappeared from the room, Narumi turned to his watch, humorously noticing that while Mikaela didn't snore, his slightly crooked fangs produced a whistling noise as he slept.

Roughly half an hour after Narumi finally settled into the monotony of the night watch, he heard a soft rustle. Though it might be a rat or something equally harmless, Narumi turned towards the noise anyway. It seemed to be merely Shinoa burrowing her way into the center. Narumi turned away.

Later, as the sun began to rise, Narumi prepared to wake up his subordinates and get them moving for the day. After retrieving his weapon, he glanced over at the sleeping teenagers.

Yuu was still in the same place, unmoved since the night Narumi set him down. Kimizuki had flung the blankets off and was sleeping in a valiant imitation of a starfish. Mitsuba's nose was scrunched up as it was tickled by Yuu's hair. Shinoa had, by some strange occurrence, flipped herself one hundred eighty degrees from her initial position. Somehow, over the course of the night, Mikaela had managed to migrate to the center in his unconscious desire for warmth and burrow himself between Mitsuba and Shinoa, using Shinoa's legs as a pillow.

Narumi briefly considered letting them sleep in when he saw the rather heartwarming sight before him.

He promptly discarded that consideration as he rattled the metal soup cans together with unhidden glee.

Narumi was given precisely the reactions he was looking for. Shinoa spasmed and kicked Mikaela in the face, while the vampire 'skree'd and scrambled into a low, crouched stance, baring his fangs. Mitsuba rolled over in shock away from Yuu's head, slamming into Mikaela's shin and bringing him down on top of her. As the three untangled themselves, Kimizuki slammed his head into Yoichi's, and both then rolled away from each other, clutching their bruised skulls. Lastly, Yuu slowly sat up, scraping the sleep out of his eyes.

Seeing this, the squad stopped their struggles and cried "Yuu!", Shinoa and Yoichi piling on top of him.

Surprised at the swiftness that he had recovered from the possession, Narumi examined Yuu; and upon finding round pupils and unmarked skin, he concluded that the boy was in fact clear of possession. Wordlessly, he thrust a water bottle into Yuu's lax hand as he sputtered in confusion.

After streaming as much water down his throat as he could, Yuu asked "How long…?"

"This is the third day." Kimizuki replied.

Before the others could start clamoring over each other so speak to Yuu, Narumi interjected. "So. Do you have any idea what the hell happened a that day?"

Yuu seemed to think it over shortly before answering "Nah, not really. It's kind of hazy. I know I let the seraph out, and that's it."

He continued to drink from the water bottle while muttering into the plastic that "That's probably why my mouth tastes like I gargled salt…"

Before the squad could launch any more questions at him, Yuu said "Look. What I wanna know is what happened while I was out? Where are the others?"

Narumi felt the group's pitying stares focused on him. He cleared his throat and said, voice thick, that they had died.

"…Oh." Yuu said, looking somberly into his hands. Mikaela had started to inch towards him, and nobody objected.

Still unfocused on the people behind him, Yuu asked "So who's, um, left?"

"Just us, it seems."

Yuu looked behind him, and his eyes alit on every member individually, glad to see every member of the Shinoa Squad was alive. He looked across all of them, and then his face held such thunderous relief Narumi thought the boy would explode.

"Hey, Mika." He said, slowly raising his hand and setting it on his twitchy friend's shoulder. Gently, he pulled him into a hug, and jerkily Mikaela raised ungloved and thorn-scarred hands and clutched the back of Yuu's shirt.

Shinoa thought it prudent to interrupt, of course.

"So then…" She began, sending an instinctive shiver down the spines of her teammates. "Yuu, now that you're awake, I'm sure you have some embarrassing stories about out stoic travel-partner, yes?"

Separating himself, Yuu grinned and said. "Oh yeah, I have tons of those."

Blandly, Mikaela shot back "Not unless you want me to tell them about the egg incident."

Upon seeing Yuu's face flush, Shinoa cooed "Ooooh, do tell, Mika, do tell…."

Narumi snapped his fingers, grabbing the attention of the people in the room. "That sounds entertaining, but why don't we talk about it on the road."

Grumbling, the squad began to clean up, although Yoichi insisted Yuu sit and let them finish up. Mistuba added, unhelpfully, that he would just get in the way.

They set off for the old mountain grounds, although Narumi never did ask what on earth the 'egg incident' was.

—  
 **NARUMI YOU PIECE OF SHIT.**  
 **So, Yuu's awake, all is fine. I wrote the outline before the chapter for this time came out, so by my reckoning there was never really a struggle regarding Asura. I figured that the seraph would keep him from possessing Yuu for long: after all, Yuu is ITS host, nothing else's.**

 **Headcanons:**  
 **run on a 6/6/6/6 hour as opposed to 12/12 hour circadian rhythm. Mika is trying to adjust for the sake of traveling, but it does take its toll on him.**  
 **feels really good to vampires, as a species with naturally chill body temperature. Mika in particular is… probably a bit touch-starved. poor kid.**  
 **, the only things that leave scars on a vampire are cursed weapons, including the blood-drawing weapons they use.**  
 **is a starfish sleeper**  
 **'egg incident' mentioned was when Yuu was dared by his younger foster-siblings to hold a raw egg in his mouth for more than five minutes. this is, unfortunately, based off an actual event in my family. needless to say it ended badly.**


	4. Chapter 4

**do keep in mind, that aside from Mika's season 1 cloak, everyone is in the casual clothes you see them in at the end of the anime, post timeskip.**

 **Another thing here: there will be no romantic mikayuu here, only brotherly relationships. Sorry, ain't happening. Their relationship and the circumstances of their first meeting is… too similar to myself and my adopted family for me to be comfortable writing. Besides, i'm utter shit at romance. Considering a few of the scenes written here are loosely based on myself and my family's interactions (examples being the egg incident, the sleeping positions, the subsequent chaos after the rude awakening), i'd feel positively filthy writing it as romance. But if you have any questions, feel free to slap 'em in the comments section or pm me.**

 **do not fret though, my children: platonic relationships abound.**

"Can't we just skip the patrol route and go fight some Horsemen instead? This is boring me out of my skull."

Anfisa deliberately refused to roll her eyes as she softly whacked Ryou upside the head, gently admonishing "Our scent covers for the humans at the temple complex, and despite our rural location others can find us if due care is not taken. In short:" she graced him with a gaze that brooked no argument. "You will do as you're told to protect the settlement."

Ryou stuffed his hands into his pockets sullenly, but argued no further. Yuki huddled further into her mottled cloak, still nervous around the sun after being turned not more than a decade ago, despite her reflective cape. This was her first time on patrol, Anfisa remembered, so the older vampire did her best to make her feel comfortable. It was part of the arrangement Anfisa and her comrades had with the humans that had gathered after the virus raged across the earth: some humans, if willing, provided food for the vampires, while the small number of vampires living there protected them from Horsemen and covered their scent with their own.

Thankfully the abandoned temple complex was far enough from Sanguinem's and the noble's territories that none of the Progenitors had bothered to explore the splinter faction's land. The nobles didn't know the temple settlement existed and frankly everyone living there wanted to keep it that way.

Anfisa's hopes for a easy first patrol for young Yuki were dashed when Ryou, who had the best hearing among them, jerked upright, ears twitching.

Without prompting, Ryou reported in an uncharacteristically serious manner. "People. Five or six, maybe more. Can't smell anything yet, sorry about that." He paused, listening more intently. "They are coming this way, though."

"Tail them. Keep upwind at all times. If they discover you, flee. Yuki and I will wait for them here, hidden. Do not engage or reveal yourself unless I tell you." Anfisa instructed.

Ryou, feeling the edge of anxiety coming from his superior, wisely kept his mouth shut and moved out silently, traveling through the nearby brush with nary a rustle. Anfisa gently ushered Yuki up a tree, telling her to draw her moss-patterned cloak around herself as much as possible, the older vampire doing the same. The forest was full of old, thick trees: tall and concealing, the height and heavily obscuring branches would make them difficult to locate by sound. Quietly, one hand on the shoulder of the youngster to steady her, Anfisa waited, and watched.

Anfisa heard them before she saw them, the trees obscuring her otherwise impeccable vision.

"Are you _positive_ we're heading the right direction, Mika?"

"Yes, Yuu, I'm fairly sure."

"Yeah, but how do you know?"

"I just _do_. It's not like you know what direction we're going, so I'd like to see you do better."

It didn't take long for the foreign group to appear on the wooded ground perhaps thirty yards away. Unfortunately, the foliage that covered Anfisa and Yuki also obscured their view of the strangers. Grimly satisfied that Ryou, reckless as he may be, hadn't been found, she pitched her voice to carry, addressing the group below her perch.

"And who are you, to wander so brazenly into our territory?"

The unknown group below her greeted her opening words with various screeches, swears, and clanking of weapons. In their chaotic preparations, Anfisa opened her mouth the barest amount and inhaled deeply.

Six humans, not uncommon a number to be seen roaming from place to place and fleeing from Sanguinem. One vampire accompanied them, though, cloaked in the sour scent of the hungry. A bit odd, but not all that dangerous.

"Who's there?!" A voice demanded: young, male, accompanied by the sound of a palm slamming across his mouth to quiet him.

"We are; we do live here, after all."

An older voice spoke, this time.

"We don't want to fight: we're simply running from the disaster in Nagoya."

Now this situation was familiar to Anfisa, so she proceeded the same way she did the previous times she had come across people fleeing from the battle there.

"If you're refugees from Nagoya, we can offer shelter. Any enemy of the demonic activity there is an ally of ours."

Furious whispering began from below, nervous feet shuffling around the leaf litter on the forest floor.

"How are we supposed to know your offer is genuine if you won't even show your face?" The older voice spoke again.

Anfisa weighed the option in her mind. True, she and her patrol were outnumbered, but should this negotiation go catastrophically wrong, Ryou and Yuki had the element of surprise. Wordlessly instructing the youngest vampire to stay put, Anfisa launched herself from the tree, landing a mere five yards from the huddled group.

The reaction was fairly instantaneous. A human boy pulled out and aimed a bow, and there was a swirl of sulfurous fire as two young women expanded their weapons. The single vampire with them, clearly just as startled as his human companions, bared his teeth at her and growled deep from his chest, secondary fangs descending from his gums like a mouthful of needles.

In their scramble to form some semblance of a battle formation, Anfisa observed a few things. The humans were all very, very young, Disconcerting, seeing the wariness and the war in their eyes. The humans, barring the older one, positively _reeked_ of the vampire with them. Anfisa could practically visualize the 'MINE' spelled out in scent.

Most worryingly, Anfisa felt the trickling fear of facing death, seeing those weapons. She recognized them, after all.

Demon gear, cursed weapons, blades of true death.

Now Anfisa was the one more on guard, very acutely aware of the danger she faced, being within range of six bearers of the curse. Too late to back out now, unfortunately.

Seeing as they remained on the defensive, Anfisa asked "Satisfied?"

Clearly not completely satisfied, the man with the brown ponytail ushered the younger members around him to whisper furiously. The mousy-looking boy kept his bow nocked and half drawn, ready to snap up in an instant. Politely, Anfisa pretended that she couldn't hear their discussion.

The older human nodded to her. "Lead the way."

Clearly they had come to the same conclusion she had: if she truly attacked them, she would be at a severe disadvantage, both in numbers and weaponry.

Businesslike, thinking about how lovely it would be to return to her husband and child, Anfisa led them below the tree where she had stashed Yuki and rapped the trunk with her knuckles. There was a rustle and the group behind her tensed as Yuki's movement caught their eyes. Yuki wasn't much to be intimidated by, though. The young vampire, instead of leaping down like her elder had, was mincing her way down the tree feet first, claws digging into the bark, looking all the world like a cat trying to descend after foolishly climbing without a return route.

Once Yuki was down, Anfisa whistled for Ryou. It took a while, but he eventually emerged from the scrubby brush. Anfisa caught him eyeing the vampire with the humans speculatively, and headed him off with a command of "Don't even think about it."

"Right, that's everybody." Anfisa said, knowing she needed to assuage the fears of her potential guests after seeing two more vampires emerge out of the literal woodwork.

After a few hours of walking, the silence was far to stiff for Anfisa's taste. Doing her best to pour nonthreatening warmth into her tone, she asked.

"So, introductions?"

The oldest human, who seemed to be the leader, responded first.

"Narumi."

Seeing their elder respond to her query, more names emerged, following Narumi's example and only giving one name.

"Right then. I am Anfisa, and the young man here is Ryou. He's not as intimidating as he thinks he is."

Ignoring Ryou's affronted look, the older vampire gestured to the young woman doing her best to keep Anfisa between herself and the humans.

"This young lady is Yuki. Do take care around her, she's a bit timid."

After that, tensions were assuaged, if only barely. It was better than nothing, Anfisa concluded.

When they reached the derelict gate showing the entrance to the abandoned temple, the human guard, using his rifle as a cane, raised a bushy eyebrow at the returning patrol's tagalongs. But he said nothing, and nodded them along as they passed him.

When they reached the designated main square, Anfisa felt warm pride at the whispered "Wow…" from Yoichi behind her.

Compared to the barren wastes of the cities, the temple community was bustling. A man was hanging laundry outside a building, people working on scant and uneven gardens. Some children occupied themselves by chasing chickens, while a guardian vampire clothed in reflective white of a stolen Sanguinem cloak watched them carefully. A darker-skinned vampire, free to move uninhibited in the shade of a roof, had cannibalized a loom out scrap wood and nails and was weaving something incomprehensible except to her eyes. Clangs could occasionally be heard as a human woman demonstrated metalworking techniques for her vampire apprentice.

Ryou was smirking like a cat caught with feathers around his mouth. He, like most everyone else here, was proud of the community they had built. As they should be: it had taken them a number of years and a few casualties to integrate proper farming and general living needs to the point where they could be mostly self-sufficient.

Clearing her throat, Anfisa redirected attention back to her.

"Right then. We'll be taking you to see Rodmilla, she's the one who handles the people here. We do need to make sure you're not carrying the virus or other unsavory microbes."

Anfisa grimaced in memory. "Last time we brought someone in, quite a while ago, he brought disease with him. We lost people." she said, effectively cutting off any argument the newcomers might have on paying Rodmilla a visit.

Motioning for Yuki and Ryou to flank her, Anfisa led her guests towards the community elder.

She really hoped this wasn't a mistake.

Author's notes: YAY POV CHANGE. All original characters, barring Rodmilla, belong to Bee galaxyford.

Headcanons:  
have a set of needle-teeth tucked up in their gums, a la supernatural vamps (shush we all have our old shames). Most times they are used to latch onto prey more firmly while feeding.  
2\. Vampires scentmark territory or people they care deeply for, usually by rubbing their shoulders along the designated person or object. Generally because such a primal gesture from tumultuous times past is looked down upon in the new 'civilized' era, it's only accepted to scent mark the place where one sleeps or lives (barring where the Sanguinem patrols live, of course: the Captain of the Guard outlawed it because every time she entered the barracks for inspection she practically choked over the competing smells.)


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright, back to your regularly scheduled big bro Narumi pov.**

 **It's recommended you read The Wrong Side if you want to know the circumstances of an original character. It's not strictly needed, but it would make far more sense.**

Narumi, upon stepping into Rodmilla's workshop, stared rather openly at the variety of messes littering her space. The vampire, who appeared to be in her fifties when she was turned, was tinkering with contraptions that seemed to be cobbled from both modern medical technology and a few aspects of spells similar to what the sergeant had seen during his time with the JIDA. Narumi peered at the desk and saw a notebook open, covered in an indecipherable scrawl of what he recognized, vaguely, as the vampiric pidgin that the creatures kept impossibly secret from other sentient species.

Rodmilla then tore her attention away from her projects and turned towards the squad.

"Well then, who's first, unless you'd rather we kick your disease-ridden rears to the curb."

Grimly, Narumi stepped forth; if anything went horribly wrong, at least the kids would have time to react and escape.

He tensed as Rodmilla unsheathed a single claw, but all she did was lightly nick his arm, smearing a few drops onto a slide before absently licking her claw clean. The old vampire shuffled over to her rickety-looking machine, the spell circle beneath it faintly crackling. After a moment of swapping out paper spell tags from the lens of her scope, she grunted.

"You're clean. Surprising, considering the variations the virus has bred out in the cities."

She then lightly pushed him back to the group, gesturing for one more person to step up. The process continued much the same for each person, only with a muttered comment of "… Salty." when she licked Yuu's blood off her claw.

When nearly everyone had finished their examination, Rodmilla motioned towards the one member of the group who had not gone through her approval.

"Come here, my lord; you ain't exempt from it, even vampires can carry nasty things around."

There was a faint sound of befuddlement from Mikaela, who looked just as dumbfounded as Narumi felt.

"My lord?" Yuki echoed softly, looking both confused and terrified.

At this Rodmilla raised a steel-colored brow.

"You mean to tell me" she said, pinning the vampire patrol next to her with a withering glare. "That you brought in a Progenitor and had no idea?"

At Anfisa's stunned and blank face, mirrored by Ryou who was looking at Mika with no small amount of trepidation, Rodmilla hissed wordlessly.

"Sweet Mother Mary, and I had thought you knew what you were doing, bringing a noble with you."

When she turned to the ragtag group of deserters, who were shown to be just as perplexed, Rodmilla visibly restrained herself from sighing thunderously.

"Alright then, since I seem to be the only one with working nostrils here. My lord," she said again, pointing at Mikaela. "How long ago where you fully turned?"

The flat, stone gaze prompted the boy to answer immediately, to Narumi's surprise.

"Three nights ago."

"Damn." Rodmilla sucked in a breath. She continued, though.

"What was the position of the vampire that turned you?"

Mikaela looked back to his comrades and family with trepidation, before answering her.

"Third Progenitor."

The effect was instant. Yuki practically climbed on top of Anfisa, whose pupils were narrowed into slits in fear. Anfisa, with the knowledge that if the noble in front of her wished her dead there would be nothing she could do about it, still shoved Ryou behind her and backed them into a corner anyway. At the flurry of movement from vampires, the humans grappled for their weapons, their scramble only halted by Rodmilla's authoritative bellow to "Halt!".

She first looked to the panicking vampires in the corner of the room. "Calm down, you blockheads. He's barely a fledgeling, even as a Fourth Progenitor. Not even grown in his horns yet."

She continued. "If you can contain yourselves, then stay. If not, then show yourselves out."

Evidently, since they didn't move from their defensive position, they chose to stay. Huffing, Rodmilla returned to her original business, motioning for Mikaela to return forward. She repeated the exam, oddly wiping her claw instead of licking it clean.

"Um." Mikaela's voice, uncharacteristically timid sounding, directed itself towards the old woman at her contraption. "What do you mean by the horns, er, ma'am?"

Not looking up from her work, Rodmilla responded "If you don't mind a blunt answer, my lord, high-ranking nobles in possession of a female reproductive system grow small, black horns. Chances are you've seen them, actually."

Mikaela stiffened at her comment and shuffled backwards into Yuu, almost trying to hide behind his remaining family. Now that Narumi looked, he could see the faint impression of curves visible through his baggy clothes and concealing cloak. Really it had no impact on him, knowing this about the kid. But clearly, it had an impact on Mikaela. He was more unsure than Narumi had ever seen him, tense with eyes flicking back and forth and ears visibly pinned to his skull.

Yuu instantly started babbling, running his mouth to reassure the young noble. "Hey, hey Mika, it's fine, they don't _care_. I told them a while ago, they were fine with it."

Mikaela mustered the mental strength to give Yuu a mutinous look, his hands pulling his cloak closer around himself, to which Yuu responded "Hey man, I thought you were dead, I never would have told them if I knew, I promise."

Appeased for now, Mikaela lapsed into a sullen silence, clearly not intending to speak any more today if he could.

Rodmilla, heedless of the tension, bulled onwards. "Well then, might as well tell you, since you asked. Horns will grow in fairly soon, I think. Probably already started."

She then turned to the openly staring vampire patrol, causing them to straighten at attention.

"You three will show them to a room. Take the north border area, I think they'd appreciate being alone. And besides" she added, eyeing the weaponry carried with them. "They can certainly defend themselves should a Horseman stray too far."

Snapping into movement, the three vampires started moving out, Anfisa giving Narumi a pleading look. Understanding what she wanted, he sighed.

"Come on, we need to rest anyways. Sun's already set, looks like."

Dutifully, all of them, even Mikaela and Kimizuki, shuffled after him like ducklings.

They were shown to a somewhat small converted shed at the edge of the settlement, furnished with some shelves, storage, and a chair in the entrance room and a few sets of bunks in the one other room. Cramped, but clean; at least they had a window.

Anfisa, still looking a bit jittery but calmed somewhat, spoke up in the face of the lodgings. "It's a bit small, yes. But the communal living areas are far more spacious; I think Rodmilla just figured that you'd be more comfortable on your own for now."

Kimizuki snorted from somewhere behind Narumi. "It's certainly better than our previous camps."

Anfisa sighed. "Someone will bring food up soon. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable." The vampire said as she swept from the room, clearly uncomfortable with both the Progenitor and the cursed weapon wielders in the room. Before exiting, she whispered into Narumi's ear "Make sure the fledgeling eats too. He smells sour with hunger."

The door closed with soft finality.

Shinoa interjected. "Well there's only four beds here, so who's sharing?"

"I'm not bunking on the floor again, that's for sure." Narumi returned flatly.

While the rest of the squadron was attempting to hash out sleeping arrangements, as everyone was exhausted and wished for a undisturbed sleep, Mitsuba seized the opportunity to scale a bed and claim the top bunk, swatting at Shinoa's questing attempts to join her. Kimizuki simply took off his boots and tucked them by the bunk under Mitsuba's, following her example and claiming a bed for himself. Yuu was asking Yoichi if he was a heavy sleeper, since he himself flailed a bit in his sleep. Yoichi assured Yuu he would be fine.

Narumi abandoned them to their organizing when he heard a knock on the door. He noticed there was a chair wedged under a doorjamb, probably by Mikaela. Paranoid kid.

He opened the door to a human woman in her late twenties, holding a large bowl of stir fry and a satchel of plates and chopsticks.

She then promptly dropped the bowl in shock.

 **okay this was a itty bitty chapter, but the next one is longer, i promise. Next one is also the last chapter i believe. Also be aware regarding how characterization or headcanons might be outdated or jossed how 1. this fic was actually written a very long time ago (just after the Nagoya chapter was released) and 2. I give 0 shits about ons canon.**

 **Headcanons:**  
 **has been disproved probably by the time i actually publish this, but the way nobility works here is it's directly below the newly turned sire's. So a vampire turned by the 3rd would be the 4th progenitor, one turned by the 15th would be the 16th, ect. The only reason Mika was't able to claim his title was that he wasn't fully turned, although he was present at a few nobles-only meetings. Progenitors are also more powerful than you average mook vamps by… a significant margin, actually. No wonder timid little Yuki is terrified of Mika.**  
 **2\. Vampires have a real confusing language. A conglomerate of different languages from different eras, the dialects are near impossible to keep up with. There is a single, mostly unchanging lingua franca they keep consistent, thank god. Vampire pidgin is a language very, very carefully kept out of human hands.**  
 **3\. Horns! DFAB vampire nobles grow tiny black horns. If you look at Krul, Chess, and Horn you'll see what I'm talking about.**  
 **4\. On the horns subject: trans Mika! I've been waiting for a good while to try and fit this in, its part of Eli's and Bee's suggestions. God bless, where would this fic be without them. But yeah, Mika grows in lil horns like Krul has.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well wasn't quite on the dot with the 7 chapter guess, it seems. regardless, thanks for sticking with me so long. I know writing one chapter and then not showing hide nor hair of this fic for like, what, a year? is not very appealing.**

 **Narumi is the best big bro**

Narumi lunged forward and snatched the falling stir fry, the food saved by both his strong reflexes and his equally strong hunger. He fumbled with it for a bit before setting it safely on a shelf, turning only to a disbelieving whisper of "Sergeant Narumi?"

She knew his rank, so that meant…

"What was your position?" He questioned, hoping beyond possibility that she knew of more survivors.

The older woman slowly saluted. "Corporal Mako Shiratori, sir. Infantry."

"Good to see you alive, Shiratori. No need to call me sir, though. After all," he added, somewhat sardonically. "We're both deserters at this point, aren't we?"

Mako shrugged. "Fair enough, Narumi. How the hell did you survive that… _thing_ that Kureto summoned?"

"I had help. Really powerful and questionably stable help, but we all survived."

Shiratori's eyebrows raised. "All? You mean to tell me there's more with you?"

"Yeah. Shinoa Hiiragi's squad all survived, plus another Hyakuya tagalong."

"Great." Shiratori muttered. "Another one. As if what I heard the officers complaining about made me wish for a second Hyakuya."

Narumi coughed somewhat awkwardly. "So, uh, want to come in? I think they'd be happy to know someone else survived that… mess."

Yeah, 'mess' wasn't precisely the most accurate term for the lives thrown upon the Hiiragi's altar of greed, but just about any word would understate the chaos and devastation wrought by the head family.

Still, Shiratori took Narumi up on his offer, stepping into the building and following him into the room where hopefully the kids had hashed out sleeping arrangements. Narumi entered the room with an irreverent "Hey squirts." and grabbed their attention quite adequately.

"I have some good news, for once."

Ignoring Mitsuba's muttered comment of "Shocker…" he continued unheeded.

"We weren't the only humans to survive Abaddon."

Now that caught their attention fully, even drawing in Yuu, whose eyes had been sliding back to look out the window in distraction. Shiratori took the cue to step in and introduce herself.

"Previously Corporal Mako Shiratori. I saw all of you at Nagoya, nice to see someone else survived the shit Kureto pulled."

Shiratori's rather irreverent introduction put the group at ease somewhat. Narumi thought it somewhat concerning, that they had gotten so paranoid around people other than themselves. Her eyes swept across the rather small room, taking in their living, breathing state. Her gaze halted, though, when she saw the lone vampire in the room.

Shiratori's eyes narrowed, then widened in recognition. Inarticulately, she pointed a finger in Mikaela's direction, sputtering "You- I stabbed you! You were at Nagoya, everyone was talking about how stupid you were charging through that many soldiers!"

Mikaela's hands ghosted over his throat, remembering the rather painful sensation of muscles and veins and flesh separating, strips of his esophagus ripping out with the knife. He'd taken a number of hits in his charge that day, but that particular strike had been messy, visceral. Mikaela eyed the otherwise innocuous human with trepidation.

To her credit, Shiratori recovered fast, connecting the dots from what Narumi said earlier about another Hyakuya and now. She looked to Yuu and said "Um, sorry for stabbing your, uh, brother, for what it counts."

Yuu's eyes looked like cold jade. "Maybe say that to him, then."

Shiratori grinned back at him, rictus and thin. "I lost people there, Hyakuya. Perhaps I'm not in the most forgiving mood, at the moment."

Mikaela glared silently at her from his customary perch on a high place, the top bunk's wooden frame creaking under his curling toes.

Shinoa, ever the ineffectual mediator, butted in. "At least you two are already introduced, yeah?" she smirked, making a significant attempt to ooze into her mattress like a slug.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Shiratori snorted.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "As happy as I am to see you alive, it's fairly late and I have patrol tomorrow morning, so I'll be leaving."

Narumi, trusting his kids not to do anything too destructive, showed her out the door. Before he closed it, she turned back, whispering "I'm not going to say I'm sorry about your squad, because I know what it feels like. But I will say this: you've got a good group of kids there, and are lucky enough to have a new circle, looks like. Don't squander it."

With not even a glance behind her, Shiratori left, returning to her own home.

Dumbfounded, Narumi closed the door on autopilot. He thought about her words, the time he spent with the young officers, the still-present grief over his squad, heavy and dark like a boulder of ice in his gut.

She was right.

Sarcastically, Narumi thought back to his mother's stories of him pleading for siblings when he was very young. She didn't even need to get involved to expand the family, it seemed.

Narumi looked at the stir fry, now cold, and swiped it to carry it back. Hopefully nobody had fallen asleep yet. As he entered the room, he could almost hear Shinoa salivating over the prospect of food, real, non canned food, for the first time in a good while. The meal was quiet, but amicable; every person, sans Mikaela, ate ravenously and silently. Seeing the obvious bags under their eyes, Narumi waved them off.

"Alright you sluggards, get to sleep."

It was a testament to their exhaustion and the late hour that the group moved off with minimal grumbling, their settling punctuated by sheets rustling and occasional griping about sharing a bed.

Yuu got up and talked to Mikaela, quietly. After a brief argument that the vampire was obviously losing, Yuu stood up and solidly blocked everyone's view while his brother awkwardly took off his binder. Narumi silently applauded Yuu's actions: despite Mikaela's obvious discomfort with exposing himself, keeping his binder on all the time could not be healthy for him, healing or no.

Before Narumi could start getting to sleep himself, Kimizuki interrupted from his bunk, where Yuu, after discovering what a blanket-hogger Yoichi was, imposed himself upon Kimizuki's solitary domain.

"Should we set a watch?"

Narumi considered. The settlement seemed trustworthy, but one could never be too careful. He nodded. "May as well, just to be safe."

Seeing how most of them were already settled, he sighed. "I'll take first watch. Next person up will be a surprise."

Groans followed him out of the room as Narumi grinned to himself, closing the bedroom door and settling himself on a pillow against the wall in the entrance room.

Mikaela followed him too, it seemed. The young vampire stood rather awkwardly by the door before Narumi motioned for him to sit. Kid was making him nervous, lurking like that. Mikaela sat on the floor, a few feet from Narumi, facing him.

Well, might as well say something; as boring as first watches were, any distraction would be welcome.

"Not tired, huh?" Narumi began.

Mikaela simply answered "Too loud." and was silent again.

"So then what's so loud?" Narumi continued, unwilling to let the silence-breaking conversation die.

Mikaela stared at him blandly.

Narumi stared right back.

Eventually Mikaela conceded and blinked, third eyelids swiping over his eyes, the fine film making a few more sweeps before the vampire's eyes were adequately protected from the air.

"… Their heartbeats." he muttered in defeat.

Nonchalantly, Narumi said "That reminds me. That Anfisa guard said that you should eat. Said you smelled sour or something."

Mikaela actually looked mildly panicked at that observation. Narumi continued, heedless of the boy's obvious discomfort.

He inhaled, preparing himself. He knew the vampire had to eat; thinking otherwise would lead to a disaster. A disaster with people maimed or killed. Still, Narumi would rather he himself take the risk of feeding Mikaela as opposed to any of his youngers doing it.

"I'm not anemic, so I should be fine if you need to eat."

Mikaela went very, very still. At his nonsensical and stubborn refusal, Narumi countered. "Look, you need to eat because I don't favor having someone without full control of himself on my squad."

"I'd still rather not." Mikaela returned, stubbornly,

Well, if he wanted to play that game. "So, would you rather drink from me, or Yuu? Because I think when I tell Yuu you need to eat, he'll agree with me."

After seeing the visible panic on the young noble's face at the thought of harming his friend let Narumi know he'd won. Slowly, Mikaela scooted closer to him as Narumi rolled up his sleeve.

Mildly, the ex-sergeant said "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not have you by my neck."

Wordlessly, Narumi proffered his arm to the kid. Keeping his face carefully blank, he watched as Mikaela seemed to gather the guts to actually take his arm, opening his mouth and slowly approaching the inside of Narumi's elbow. His breath was cold, Narumi noted absently. Head bowed before him, the Progenitor was incredibly tense, but slowly, his fangs slid into Narumi's vein. He prepared for the pain.

There was none.

More accurately, there was very little. Aside from the two points of entry, he felt none of the pain. There was no fire in his veins, spasming muscles and locked joints, none of the dozens of secondary teeth latched onto his flesh. Just the fairly uncomfortable sensation of blood being sucked up through hollow fangs.

Narumi was beginning to feel slightly lightheaded when, thankfully, the boy let go. Before he could escape back to his perch by Yuu's bed, Narumi snatched his cape and yanked the vampire down to sit on the floor next to him.

Somewhat humorously, Narumi said "Oh no, you aren't escaping just yet. I fed you, so I get to keep you here as conversation. Night watch is boring as hell."

"I don't have to do anything you say." Mikaela managed to mutter mullishly.

"Too bad, I'm older than you." Narumi shot back.

"So," he began. "Since we'll be here why don't you tell me about your family? Yuu has pulled some stupid stuff so I know for sure he was a terror when you two were younger."

Mikaela's face was set in impassive refusal.

Narumi shrugged. "Alright then, I've got stuff I can say then. Don't let me fall asleep."

Narumi started telling the boy about his squad, the absurd situations they caught themselves in, there habits, their dreams, their hopes. Their lives. It was nice, admittedly, to speak to an uninvolved party; Mikaela had no personal stake in people, to him, that were faceless; wouldn't feel obligated to give empty condolences. He just listened.

Narumi was regaling the empty air on how someone painted the green accents on Genbushin eye-searing purple (the demon had been insufferable in his dreams for days after) when he felt a light pressure on his shoulder. He grinned.

It seemed the kid was tired after all.

But admittedly, Narumi was honored, well and truly honored, that a paranoid orphan kid with a twitchy metaphorical trigger finger felt him safe enough to sleep next to. Mikaela, despite his outwardly cold personality, grew on him. Like strangle-vines. Absently, his inhibitions lightened by tiredness and loss of blood, Narumi reached over and ruffled the boy's hair. It was ridiculously soft, like feathers. He felt tiny bumps too, and upon further inspection it seemed that Rodmilla was right, he was growing horns.

Mikaela started purring, a rumbling vibration traveling from chest to throat and shivering against Narumi's shoulder. He wished he had some recording device on him right now. Shinoa (and maybe Yuu) would kill to have this kind of blackmail material in their hands.

Shiratori was too observant for her own good. She was right- these kids did need a family, and frankly, so did he, though his bones still ached with the loss of his squad. Even the prickly young Progenitor whistling through crooked fans on his shoulder was included in this, Narumi realized.

His first family was gone, killed by the Hiiragi clan in their avarice. But, it seemed, he was building a new family, watched over by the ghosts of his old one.

 **Y'know when Narumi thought, when he was a kid, he wanted younger siblings I doubt he thought about six of them.**

 **It feels kinda weird posting this after it was proven kagami cant write and doesnt understand that people Work Shit Out when they're stuck in the backwoods (or backcity i guess) instead of ignoring everybody. Whatever if canon aint gonna give me the brotherly narumi/mika bonding guess i gotta buck up and write it myself.**

 **But! Thank y'all so much! Especially those who commented on the first chapter: you gave me the solid kick in the ass to finish this thing. Special thanks to some of my best pals on this here internet, Eli and Bee. You helped a bunch with bouncing ideas and making sure I was headed in the best direction. Tumblr is forblazes for fandom stuff, but be aware of more… discourse-y things.**

 **Last headcanon list for this, folks. more on tumblr, though!**  
 **purr**  
 **also possess a third eyelid**  
 **, when fully turned, develop a second venom sack above the roof of their mouths along with the 'default one'. This one is the venom type that makes the blood drinking hurt like a motherfucker: the first venom is an endorphinate/relaxant, while the new secondary is a direct paralytic more akin to snake venom, which would explain why its hurts so damn much (it's usually used if the vampire intends on killing the victim, since it takes a good amount of time to recover from). Both venoms function as a blood thinner.**  
 **way vampires 'drink' blood is directly though the hollow fangs: a separate duct system connects from the root of the hollow fangs to the back of the throat, where the blood goes down the esophagus into the stomach. There is a valve similar to the valve separating esophagus/lungs there to keep backwash or puke or stomach acid out of the delicate tubes.**


End file.
